February 2012

Early February can have us concentrating on plans, strategies and considering how best to move forward. We may draw upon other people for their support, encouragement and advice. It would be wise to do so, since we all might be far more interested in rushing ahead into our future than spinning our wheels in the present. We just have to be wary of acting like lemmings and rushing towards the cliffs. Haste creates waste, and these times call for, even demand, resourcefulness whereby we utilize our time, our energy and our monies in a judicious and focused manner.

In considering whom we use as our sounding boards, let’s also be judicious in our selection. Some people may be able to see the big picture but their vision could be a little spacey, seeing what could be without considering the specifics or the particulars. Other people can be so focused on the minutiae, lost in the details, that they lose sight of the broad perspective. A balance between the two, where someone is able to see both the macro view and the micro view is what would be most helpful. We need to see the big picture but also see how to fit the various pieces into the puzzle to create the whole framework.

While we can be incredibly idealistic as we start February, thanks to the Stellium of three or more planets in Aquarius with the Sun, Mercury and Neptune in the Fixed Air Sign and with Venus In Pisces, we have to be astute and discerning regarding where we place our energies and whom we try to assist. It would be wise to remember the Christian Bible’s advice: ‘Cast ye not pearls before swine’.

Out of our compassion and maudlin sentimentality, we could get so involved in other people’s problems as to get entangled in their drama, and a drama they might be attached to and unwilling to let go. Talk about a no-win situation!

Let’s be judicious in the advice we take, judicious in the advice we give, judicious in our decisions and judicious in our actions. Remember, two of the keywords to engage for these times are: awareness and mindfulness.

Awareness and mindfulness can keep us from leaping before we look and allow time for reflection to consider what is really going on.

Fortunately, the Earth Grand Trine that has been in operation since November continues on through this month and on through the Spring period. We can be highly effective, productive and get a lot of things done. We just need to be certain that we keep our emotions out of the way and that we enlist an attitude of ‘tough love’… not ‘tough luck’ or even ‘there but for the grace of god go I’ but ‘tough love’ whereby we are there for other people as long as they are there for themselves. Being focused and concentrating on the most meaningful would provide us the ability to expedite operations and accomplish more now than usual.

Neptune re-enters its own Sign of Pisces on February 3rd and will transit through Pisces on into 2025. Compassion, spirituality, religiosity can all be accentuated during this time. Idealism can be strong, but there is also a liability to delusion, escapism and non-realities. I’ve got more to write about the Neptune Pisces transit and what we might experience over these next thirteen years of Neptune’s transit through its own Sign. I call it ‘Illumination or Delusion’, and we can carom between the two as we could also carom between acting out the martyr – savior complex. I’ll post it on the 3rd.

The Leo Full Moon on February 7th comes at the time of Saturn turning retrograde in the last degree of Libra. Saturn reaches the cusp of Libra – Scorpio but retreats back into Libra for its four and a half month retrograde cycle. It would be wise for us to note what is going on regarding the financial realm, both on a macro perspective of the geopolitical world and on a micro viewpoint of our own personal financial world, as Saturn turns retrograde. When we come to the Autumn, Saturn will enter Scorpio for its two and a half year cycle. The Saturn Scorpio transit may speak to financial restraints, increased taxations and a higher death rate. Saturn Scorpio will certainly demand that we be resourceful and Saturn in Scorpio could create limitations to our sense of abundance and bountifulness.

With Saturn retrograde until the latter part of June, let’s also keep in mind that there can be greater delays and difficulties in getting things done. We are being asked to reflect and deal with our interactions with other people, especially the significant relationships in our lives. For Saturn retrograding through Libra, which it has transited for the past two plus years, asks us to consider ourselves in light of the ‘other’. The other can be our significant partner[s], how we deal in our social skills with other people or it can be any complement to ourselves, that which would complete us, sometimes known as what would define us. Other can be our work, our recreational activities, anything that we tend to associate to a definition of ourselves. It is not WHO we are but rather WHAT we are, and the latter definition being far easier to relate, and to hide behind.

Shortly after Saturn turns retrograde and the Leo Full Moon on the 7th, Venus exits Pisces and enters Aries on the 8th and conjuncts Uranus on the 9th. Relationships can be highlighted, but the focus on relationships can be less about a balance of personal needs with those of someone else. Instead, everyone may become more self-centered, self-focused and self-absorbed. We might be far more interested in how relationships are impacting us and less considerate of how the relationship is impacting someone else. We could be infatuated by the new and the different, entertaining quirky characters as comic relief to our own day-in, day-out lives. If we have been feeling boxed in by our everyday life and our usual circle of friends, we might want a breakout period where we experiment with a new sense of our being. We might try different hairstyles, consider hip new wardrobes or just seek to do things differently. We may assume that the old is tired, even worn out, and we want something vibrant, exciting, enlivening, different.

Before Mercury exits Aquarius to enter Pisces on the 13th, Mercury trines Saturn. We may be looking for a catch-up with an old friend, someone we might have lost touch with or someone we just need to spend time with and reminisce about old days.

With Mercury moving out of Aquarius and entering Pisces on February 13th, followed by the Mercury Neptune conjunction on the 14th, Valentine’s Day, we could easily buy into hopes and wishes that have no fundamental basis in reality. Although our intuitive sense can be strong, it would be wise for us not to take things at face value. This energy configuration can also be akin to the trickster, things appearing one way, the reality being quite different. In the native American tradition, the coyote is the trickster, for the coyote howls its haunting, seductive song enticing its prey to come forward only to pounce upon it once within harm’s way. While we might be visionaries during this time, we need to keep our feet firmly planted on the ground if we choose to have our head in the clouds.

The Mercury Neptune conjunction on the 14th is followed on the 15th by Venus square Pluto. Expectations not met on Valentine’s Day could have severe implications and even drastic ramifications for our relationships. Some people may draw lines in the sand and insist that another person either make amends for a perceived slight or the relationship could land on rocky shoals.

With Mercury in Pisces, the Stellium of three or more planets in Aquarius comes to an end. Our emotions can rule our thinking and we might be easily swayed more by our moods and how we feel about things than hard analytical thinking.

At the same time, we can be highly intuitive and utilize a best practices approach to get things done. We can combine the intuitive with the pragmatic and develop the right structure, format and means to move our deepest heartfelt projects forward. Mercury sextiles Jupiter on the 16th, and we could feel upbeat, inspired and divinely guided by right action. Mercury sextiles Pluto on the 18th and we could virtually move mountains. But the moves can be done with little effort and may bear truth to the concept of mind over matter. The 18th also has the Sun, just about to exit Aquarius, trine Saturn. A sense of appreciation, support and encouragement for WHO we are and our plans for the future can be forthcoming by a significant ally and important advocate.

The Sun moves into Pisces on the 19th of February and conjuncts Neptune at the same time. We now have a Stellium of three or more planets in the Mutable Water Sign as the Sun joins Neptune and Mercury in Pisces. With the Piscean energy highlighted even more by the Pisces Lunation, the Pisces New Moon on the 21st, we need to be aware that this fortnight between the 21st of February and the 8th of March can be a time of tricksters extraordinaire.

Whatever is presented to us at this time can be a mirage or an illusion or certainly not the truth, the whole truth. Our sensitivity is likely to be turned up severalfold. At times, we may feel like the savior, other times like the victim. The liability towards escapism can be strong, as we seek more pleasant surroundings, our safe happy place where we can go to avoid the hard cold realities of these changing times.

We may feel like sponges soaking up the energies of our surroundings. It might be important for us now and then to step off the track, take time to recharge our batteries and reflect on what is going on. It would also be wise for us to recognize that we are coming to the end of the zodiac year with the Vernal Equinox and the Sun moving into Aries later in March initiating the new astrological year.

The 23rd of February has Mercury opposed Mars. We can either get incredibly spacey, forget details and skip over specifics, or we could develop the ability to combine our intuitive sense with a detailed approach and focus on how best to approach our tasks and effectively deal with our obligations. We do have to watch for any tendency towards being either hypercritical of everyone, including ourselves, or overly sensitive, assuming that the world is against us. It may be a tough balancing act but one necessary to develop an essential skill set for these changing times.

The Mercury sextile Jupiter on the 16th and Mercury sextile Pluto on the 18th are replicated by the Sun towards the end of the month, as the Sun sextiles Jupiter on the 25th and then the Sun sextiles Pluto on the 28th. We may be far more confident about where we are going with an innate sense that we are headed in the right direction.

Spring is just around the corner.

During the latter part of February and into mid-March, we may do a great deal of sighing, even involuntarily sighing. It may not be a sigh or breath of relief, as much as an inadvertent recognition that we are coming to the end of a cycle.

This month is a month when we may have our head in the clouds, far more interested in the possibilities than daily realities. As the month progresses, we grow increasingly emotional and liable to make decisions and judgments more on our moods and feelings than analytical reasoning and well-considered thought. These times ask us to let go of any sense of total control over situations, to be flexible and adaptable to changing conditions. We may discover that we are developing the tai chi moves, adept at recognizing the shifting energies, moving in rhythm with them and being more effective in our lives than we ever have been before. The times are changing and we are changing with them. We can get a greater sense of right direction and right action and realize that we are being assisted in making our way through the maze, no labyrinth, of our life’s journey and procession.

February may be the dead of winter but we are also coming to the end of a cycle, the end of the astrological year. Karma can play out and old issues come up that are asking to be resolved. These issues may be of our present life but may also be of past lives too. This can be a month when our thoughts turn to the past, looking back at what was, all the while yearning for what we might not consciously know but realizing that we are guided by our inner voice and our soul’s knowing.